Billy Graham

File:Billy Graham Birthplace Marker, Charlotte, NC.jpg

William Franklin Graham Jr. was born on November 7, 1918, in the downstairs bedroom of a farmhouse near Charlotte, North Carolina.{{cite book |last=Bruns |first=Roger |chapter=A Farm Boy Becomes a Preacher |pages=5–14 |chapter-url={{Google books|HQvtTF1HSL8C|page=5|plainurl=yes}} |title=Billy Graham: A Biography |publisher=Greenwood Press |series=Greenwood biographies |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-313-32718-6}} Of Scots-Irish descent, he was the eldest of four children born to Morrow (née Coffey) and dairy farmer William Franklin Graham Sr. Graham was raised on the family dairy farm with his two younger sisters Catherine Morrow and Jean and younger brother Melvin Thomas.{{cite web|title=Billy Graham's Mother Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/16/obituaries/billy-graham-s-mother-dies.html|work=The New York Times Archives|date=August 16, 1981}} When he was nine years old, the family moved about {{convert|75|yd}} from their white frame house to a newly built red brick house.{{cite web |url=http://billygrahamlibrary.org/video-graham-family-homeplace/ |title=Billy Graham's Childhood Home |publisher=Billygrahamlibrary.org |access-date=October 21, 2015|date=September 22, 2015 }} He was raised by his parents in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.David George Mullan, Narratives of the Religious Self in Early-Modern Scotland, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2010, p. 27 Graham attended the Sharon Grammar School.{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.us/mothergraham.toc.html#Chapter |title=They Call Me Mother Graham Morrow Coffey Graham |work=ccel.us |access-date=June 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923201129/http://www.ccel.us/mothergraham.toc.html#Chapter |archive-date=September 23, 2015 }} He started to read books from an early age and loved to read novels for boys, especially Tarzan. Like Tarzan, he would hang on the trees and gave the popular Tarzan yell. According to his father, that yelling led him to become a minister.{{cite web|url=http://billygraham.org/story/billy-graham-trivia-what-did-billy-graham-read-as-a-child/-%27Billy-Graham-Trivia-What-Did-Billy-Graham-Read-as-a-Child|title=Billy Graham Trivia What Did Billy Graham Read as a Child|publisher=billygraham.org|date=August 10, 2015|access-date=October 10, 2015}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Graham was 15 when Prohibition ended in December 1933, and his father forced him and his sister Catherine to drink beer until they became sick. This created such an aversion that the two siblings avoided alcohol and drugs for the rest of their lives.{{cite magazine |first1=Nancy |last1=Gibbs |first2=Richard N. |last2=Ostling |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979573,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621232638/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979573,00.html |archive-date=June 21, 2007 |title=God's Billy Pulpit |magazine=Time |date=November 15, 1993 |access-date=November 7, 2011}}

Graham was turned down for membership in a local youth group for being "too worldly". Albert McMakin, who worked on the Graham farm, persuaded him to go see evangelist Mordecai Ham. According to his autobiography, Graham was 16 when he was converted during a series of revival meetings that Ham led in Charlotte in 1934.{{cite web |url=http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/faq/13.htm |title=Who led Billy Graham to Christ... |publisher=Archives, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College |access-date=May 12, 2011 |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110513224056/http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/faq/13.htm |archive-date=May 13, 2011 }}{{cite web|title=An Interview with Reverend Billy Graham|url=http://cmstory.org/billygraham|website=The Charlotte Mecklenburg Story|publisher=Charlotte Mecklenburg Library|access-date=October 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021132143/http://www.cmstory.org/billygraham|archive-date=October 21, 2015}}

After graduating from Sharon High School in May 1936, Graham attended Bob Jones College. After one semester, he found that the coursework and rules were too legalistic. He was almost expelled, but Bob Jones Sr. warned him not to throw his life away: "At best, all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks... You have a voice that pulls. God can use that voice of yours. He can use it mightily."

In 1937, Graham transferred to the Florida Bible Institute in Temple Terrace, Florida.The institute is now Trinity College of Florida in New Port Richey, Florida While still a student, Graham preached his first sermon at Bostwick Baptist Church near Palatka, Florida.{{cite news|last1=Kirkland|first1=Gary|title=Graham's first-ever sermon? Near Palatka|url=http://www.gainesville.com/article/LK/20050625/News/604163212/GS/|access-date=February 21, 2018|newspaper=Gainesville Sun|date=June 25, 2005|archive-date=February 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222043710/http://www.gainesville.com/article/LK/20050625/News/604163212/GS/}} In his autobiography, Graham wrote of receiving his calling on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club, which was adjacent to the institute's campus. Reverend Billy Graham Memorial Park was later established on the Hillsborough River, directly east of the 18th green and across from where Graham often paddled a canoe to a small island in the river, where he would practice preaching to the birds, alligators, and cypress stumps. In 1939, Graham was ordained by a group of Southern Baptist clergy at Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Florida.{{cite web |url=https://billygraham.org/about/biographies/billy-graham/ |title=Profile: William (Billy) F. Graham, Jr., Evangelist and Chairman of the Board |website=billygraham.org/ |publisher=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association |location=Charlotte, NC |access-date=October 10, 2017}}{{cite news|title=Indepth: Billy Graham |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/graham_billy/ |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=December 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119143909/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/graham_billy/ |archive-date=January 19, 2011}} In 1940, he graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree.Bill Adler, Ask Billy Graham: The World's Best-Loved Preacher Answers Your Most Important Questions, Thomas Nelson Inc, USA, 2010, p. VIIIBeau Zimmer, [https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/rev-billy-graham-attended-bible-college-in-temple-terrace/67-521631530 Rev. Billy Graham attended Bible College in Temple Terrace], wtsp.com, USA, February 21, 2018

Graham then enrolled in Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. During his time there, he decided to accept the Bible as the infallible word of God. Henrietta Mears of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood in California was instrumental in helping Graham wrestle with the issue. He settled it at Forest Home Christian Camp (now called Forest Home Ministries) southeast of the Big Bear Lake area in southern California.{{cite web |title=Billy Graham's California Dream |url=http://www.californiality.com/2011/12/billy-grahams-california.html |work=californiality.com |access-date=August 14, 2012}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}{{Cite web|url=https://billygraham.org/story/the-tree-stump-prayer-where-billy-graham-overcame-doubt/|title=The Tree Stump Prayer: When Billy Graham Overcame Doubt|website=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association}} While attending Wheaton, Graham was invited to preach one Sunday in 1941 at the United Gospel Tabernacle church. After that, the congregation repeatedly asked Graham to preach at their church and later asked him to become the pastor of their church. After Graham prayed and sought advice from his friend Dr. Edman, Graham became their church's pastor.{{Cite book|last=Whalin|first=Terry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsaeBAAAQBAJ|title=Billy Graham A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist|publisher=Morgan James Publishing|year=2014|isbn=978-1-63047-231-3|pages=32–33|language=English}}

In June 1943, Graham graduated from Wheaton College{{Cite book|last=Laurie|first=Greg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbsyEAAAQBAJ&dq=billy+graham+preached+western+springs+baptist+church&pg=PA115|title=Billy Graham The Man I Knew|publisher=Salem Books|year=2021|isbn=978-1-68451-059-7|pages=115–117|language=English}} with a degree in anthropology.[https://www.wheaton.edu/news/recent-news/2018/february/wheaton-college-alumnus-billy-graham/ "Wheaton College Alumnus Billy Graham: 1918–2018".] Wheaton.edu. February 21, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018. That same year, Robert Van Kampen, treasurer of the National Gideon Association, invited Graham to preach at Western Springs Baptist Church, and Graham accepted the opportunity on the spot. While there, his friend Torrey Johnson, pastor of the Midwest Bible Church in Chicago, told Graham that his radio program, Songs in the Night, was about to be canceled due to lack of funding. Consulting with the members of his church in Western Springs, Graham decided to take over Johnson's program with financial support from his congregation. Launching the new radio program on January 2, 1944, still called Songs in the Night, Graham recruited the bass-baritone George Beverly Shea as his director of radio ministry.

With World War II underway, Graham applied to become a chaplain in the United States Army. After he was initially turned down for being underweight, Graham was awarded a commission as a Second Lieutenant, but came down with a severe case of mumps in October 1944 before he could begin chaplain training at Harvard Divinity School and was bedridden for six weeks. Due to his illness and the fact that the war was expected to end soon, he was discharged from the army.Whalin, p. 44Wacker, Grant: One Soul at a time: The Story of Billy Graham (2019) After a period of recuperation in Florida, he was hired as the first full-time evangelist of the new Youth for Christ (YFC), co-founded by Torrey Johnson and the Canadian evangelist Charles Templeton. In his first year as a YFC evangelist, Graham spoke in 47 US states. He traveled extensively as an evangelist in the United States and Europe in the immediate post-war era, making his first overseas trip in 1946.[https://www.al.com/press-releases/2018/02/press_release_when_the_world_m.html When the world met Billy Graham -- Youth for Christ's first employee]

In 1948, in a Modesto, California hotel room, Graham and his evangelistic team established the Modesto Manifesto: a code of ethics for life and work to protect against accusations of financial, sexual, and power abuse.Seth Dowland, [https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/the-modesto-manifesto/ The "Modesto Manifesto"], christianhistoryinstitute.org, USA, No. 111, 2014 The code includes rules for collecting offerings in churches, working only with churches supportive of cooperative evangelism, using official crowd estimates at outdoor events, and a commitment to never be alone with a woman other than his wife (which become known as the "Billy Graham rule").{{cite web|last1=Taylor|first1=Justin|title=Where Did the 'Billy Graham Rule' Come From?|url=https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/evangelical-history/2017/03/30/where-did-the-billy-graham-rule-come-from/|publisher=The Gospel Coalition|access-date=April 2, 2017|date=March 20, 2017}}Yonat Shimron, [https://religionnews.com/2018/02/23/billy-graham-made-sure-integrity-never-question/ Billy Graham made sure his integrity was never in question], religionnews.com, USA, February 23, 2018

Graham was 29 when he became president of Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis in 1948. He was the youngest president of a college or university in the country, and held the position for four years before he resigned in 1952.[http://kstp.com/national/christian-evangelist-rev-billy-graham-dies-age-99/4797356/ AP and Hauser, Tom. "Evangelist Billy Graham, a former Minnesota College president, dies at 99".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302225315/http://kstp.com/national/christian-evangelist-rev-billy-graham-dies-age-99/4797356/ |date=March 2, 2018 }} ABC Eyewitness News. February 22, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018. While serving in this position, Charles Templeton urged him to apply to Princeton Theological Seminary for an advanced theological degree after he himself had done so, but Graham declined and continued in his position as president of Northwestern Bible College.[https://books.google.com/books?id=NvTR05fodqYC Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith].{{Page needed|date=February 2018}}

{{main|List of Billy Graham's crusades}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 194-0798-29, Düsseldorf, Veranstaltung mit Billy Graham.jpg, West Germany, on June 21, 1954.]]

The first Billy Graham Crusade was held on September 13–21, 1947, at the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was attended by 6,000 people.{{Cite web |date=February 24, 2018 |title=Remembering the Billy Graham Crusades That Led People to Jesus |url=https://www2.cbn.com/news/us/remembering-billy-graham-crusades-led-people-jesus |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Christian Broadcasting Network}} Graham was 28 years old then, and would rent a large venue (such as a stadium, park, or even a street); as the crowds became larger, he arranged for a group of up to 5,000 people to sing in a choir. He would preach the gospel and invite individuals to come forward (a practice begun by Dwight L. Moody); such people were called "inquirers" and were given the chance to speak one-on-one with a counselor to clarify questions and pray together. The inquirers were often given a copy of the Gospel of John or a Bible study booklet.

In 1949, Graham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles, for which he erected circus tents in a parking lot.{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Daniel |date=February 21, 2018 |title=How Billy Graham became the most famous preacher in America |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/us/how-billy-graham-became-famous/index.html |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=CNN |language=en}} He attracted national media coverage, especially in the conservative Hearst chain of newspapers, although Hearst and Graham never met.{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/jcs/39.2.273 |jstor=23919865 |title=When Worlds Collide: Politics, Religion, and Media at the 1970 East Tennessee Billy Graham Crusade |journal=Journal of Church and State |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=273–95 |year=1997 |last1=King |first1=Randall E.}} The crusade event ran for eight weeks–five weeks longer than originally planned. Graham became a national figure, with heavy coverage from the wire services and national magazines.William Martin, "The Riptide of Revival", Christian History and Biography (2006), Issue 92, pp. 24–29, online Pianist Rudy Atwood, who played for the tent meetings, wrote that they "rocketed Billy Graham into national prominence, and resulted in the conversion of a number of show-business personalities".{{cite book|first=Rudy|last=Atwood|title=The Rudy Atwood Story|publisher=Revell|year=1970|location=Old Tappan, New Jersey|oclc=90745|page=113}}

In 1953, Graham was offered a five-year, $1 million contract from NBC to appear on television opposite Arthur Godfrey, but he had prior commitments and turned-down the offer to continue his live touring revivals. Graham held crusades in London that lasted 12 weeks, and a New York City crusade at Madison Square Garden, in 1957, ran nightly for 16 weeks. At a 1973 rally, attended by 100,000 people, in Durban, South Africa—the first large mixed-race event in apartheid South Africa—Graham openly declared that "apartheid is a sin".{{Cite web|url=http://www.cswc.div.ed.ac.uk/2018/03/billy-graham-1918-2018-prophet-of-world-christianity/|title=Billy Graham (1918–2018): Prophet of World Christianity?|last=Stanley|first=Brian|author-link=Brian Stanley (historian)|date=March 2, 2018|website=Centre for the Study of World Christianity|language=en-GB|access-date=April 13, 2020}}{{Cite web|title=AUDIO: Billy Graham Confronts Racism, Teaches God Loves Everyone|url=https://billygraham.org/audio/confronting-racism-billy-graham-teaches-god-loves-everyone/|access-date=November 22, 2020|website=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association}} In Moscow, Russia, in 1992, one-quarter of the 155,000 people in Graham's audience went-forward at his call. During his crusades, he frequently used the altar call song, "Just As I Am".{{Cite web |last=Eckstrom |first=Kevin |date=February 21, 2018 |title='Just As I Am' was Billy Graham's signature hymn |url=https://religionnews.com/2018/02/21/just-as-i-am-was-billy-grahams-signature-hymn/ |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Religion News Service}} In 1995, during the Global Mission event, he preached a sermon at Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that was transmitted by satellite to 185 countries and translated into 116 languages.Andrew S. Finstuen, Anne Blue Wills, Grant Wacker, Billy Graham: American Pilgrim, Oxford University Press, UK, 2017, p. 104

File:Countries that preacher Billy Graham visited for his crusades.jpg

By the time of his last crusade in 2005 in New York City, he had preached 417 live crusades, including 226 in the US and 195 abroad.{{Cite web |last=Grossman |first=Cathy Lynn |date=February 21, 2018 |title=Billy Graham reached millions through his crusades. Here's how he did it |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/02/21/billy-graham-crusades-how-evangelists-reached-millions/858165001/ |access-date=October 11, 2023 |website=USA Today}}{{Cite web |title=Billy Graham Crusades |url=https://billygraham.org/news/media-resources/electronic-press-kit/crusade-cities/crusades/ |access-date=June 5, 2023 |website=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association}}{{cite news |first=David |last=Usborne |date=June 24, 2005 |title=Billy Graham and the Last Crusade |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/billy-graham-and-the-last-crusade-294716.html |work=The Independent}}

Graham spoke at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Urbana Student Missions Conference at least nine times – in 1948, 1957, 1961, 1964, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1984, and 1987.{{cite web |url=http://www.intervarsity.org/news/billy-graham-intervarsity--new-york-city-1788 |title=Billy Graham, InterVarsity & New York City |publisher=intervarsity.org |date=June 21, 2005 |access-date=February 21, 2013}}

At each Urbana conference, he challenged the thousands of attendees to make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives. He often quoted a six-word phrase that was reportedly written in the Bible of William Whiting Borden, the son of a wealthy silver magnate: "No reserves, no retreat, no regrets".{{cite web |url=https://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/regret.htm |title=William Borden: No Reserves. No Retreats. No Regrets |publisher=Home.snu.edu |access-date=February 21, 2013}} Borden had died in Egypt on his way to the mission field.{{Cite web |date=February 21, 2018 |title=InterVarsity Remembers Billy Graham |url=https://intervarsity.org/news/intervarsity-remembers-billy-graham |access-date=March 19, 2022 |website=InterVarsity |language=en}}

Graham also held evangelistic meetings on a number of college campuses: at the University of Minnesota during InterVarsity's "Year of Evangelism" in 1950–51, a 4-day mission at Yale University in 1957, and a week-long series of meetings at the University of North Carolina's Carmichael Auditorium in September 1982.For Christ and the University: The Story of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA – 1940–1990 by Keith Hunt and Gladys Hunt, InterVarsity Press, 1991.{{Page needed|date=March 2018}}

In 1955, he was invited by Cambridge University students to lead the mission at the university; the mission was arranged by the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, with London pastor-theologian John Stott serving as Graham's chief assistant. This invitation was greeted with much disapproval in the correspondence columns of The Times.{{cite news |author= |title=Oliver Barclay |url=https://share.trin.cam.ac.uk/sites/public/Alumni/obituaries/Oliver_Barclay.pdf |newspaper=The Times |location=London |date=October 4, 2013 |access-date=December 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210183950/https://share.trin.cam.ac.uk/sites/public/Alumni/obituaries/Oliver_Barclay.pdf |archive-date=December 10, 2014 }}

In 1950, Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) with its headquarters in Minneapolis. The association relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2003,{{cite web | title=Billy Graham | website=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association | date=September 1, 2020 | url=https://billygraham.org/about/biographies/billy-graham/ | access-date=May 14, 2024}} and maintains a number of international offices, such as in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires. BGEA ministries have included:

• Hour of Decision, a weekly radio program broadcast around the world for 66 years (1950–2016){{cite web|url=https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/rev-billy-graham-his-life-by-the-numbers-years-and-millions/83-523431321|title=Rev. Billy Graham: His Life By The Numbers, Years, and Millions|date=February 26, 2018 |publisher=WFMY|access-date=February 13, 2021}}
• Mission television specials broadcast in almost every market in the US and Canada{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}
• A syndicated newspaper column, My Answer, carried by newspapers across the United States and distributed by Tribune Content Agency{{cite web |title=My Answer: From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham |website=Tribune Content Agency |url=https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/advice/my-answer/ |access-date=October 9, 2018}}
• Decision magazine, the official publication of the association{{cite web|title=Formats and Editions of Decision magazine|url=https://www.worldcat.org/formats-editions/14192314|publisher=WorldCat|access-date=February 13, 2021}}
• Christianity Today, started in 1956 with Carl F. H. Henry as its first editor{{Cite journal |last=TOULOUSE |first=MARK G. |date=1993 |title="Christianity Today" and American Public Life: A Case Study |journal=Journal of Church and State |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=241–284 |doi=10.1093/jcs/35.2.241 |jstor=23918687 |issn=0021-969X}}
• Passageway.org, the website for a youth discipleship program created by BGEA{{Cite web |last=Adewara |first=Bola |date=February 23, 2018 |title=30 FACTS YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT BILLY GRAHAM – By Bola Adewara |url=https://elifeonline.net/11828-2/ |access-date=March 19, 2022 |website=Reporting the living Word |language=en-GB}}
• World Wide Pictures, which has produced and distributed more than 130 filmsJohn Lyden, The Routledge Companion to Religion and Film, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2009, p. 82{{Cite web |title=Billy Graham |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0333932/bio#trivia |access-date=March 19, 2022 |website=IMDb |language=en}}

In April 2013, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association started "My Hope With Billy Graham", the largest outreach in its history. It encouraged church members to spread the gospel in small group meetings, after showing a video message by Graham. "The idea is for Christians to follow the example of the disciple Matthew in the New Testament and spread the gospel in their own homes."{{cite web |url=http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/04/new_billy_graham_outreach_host.html |title=New Billy Graham outreach: Hosting 'Matthew parties' to share the gospel |publisher=al.com |access-date=August 12, 2013|date=April 16, 2013 }} "The Cross" video is the main program in the My Hope America series, and was also broadcast the week of Graham's 95th birthday.{{Cite news | title=Evangelist Billy Graham to mark 95th birthday with message to America | last=Jenkins | first=Colleen |work=Reuters | date=October 31, 2013 | access-date=November 6, 2018 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-people-graham/evangelist-billy-graham-to-mark-95th-birthday-with-message-to-america-idUSBRE99U14020131031}}

Graham's early crusades were segregated, but he began adjusting his approach in the 1950s.{{sfn|Schier|2013|pages=404–5}} During a 1953 rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Graham tore down the ropes that organizers had erected to segregate the audience into racial sections. In his memoirs, he recounted that he told two ushers to leave the barriers down "or you can go on and have the revival without me."{{sfn|Miller|2009|pp=13–38}} During a sermon held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on August 23, 1954, he warned a white audience, "Three-fifths of the world is not white. They are rising all over the world. We have been proud and thought we were better than any other race, any other people. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you that we are going to stumble into hell because of our pride."{{Cite news |date=August 25, 1954 |title=Text Of Second Graham Sermon, Delivered To Capacity Crowd In VU Gym |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/nashville-banner-text-of-second-graham-s/138495295/ |access-date=January 10, 2024 |work=Nashville Banner |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}{{sfn|Miller|2009|pp=13–38}}

In 1957, Graham's stance towards integration became more publicly shown when he allowed black ministers Thomas Kilgore and Gardner C. Taylor to serve as members of his New York Crusade's executive committee. He also invited Martin Luther King Jr., whom he first met during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, to join him in the pulpit at his 16-week revival in New York City, where 2.3 million gathered at Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium, and Times Square to hear them. Graham recalled in his autobiography that during this time, he and King developed a close friendship and that he was eventually one of the few people who referred to King as "Mike", a nickname which King asked only his closest friends to call him.[http://www.billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=8423 Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Gun Fire 45 Years Ago Kills Man that Billy Graham Considered a Friend] Billy Graham.com, April 4, 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2013 Following King's assassination in 1968, Graham mourned that the US had lost "a social leader and a prophet". In private, Graham advised King and other members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=195–203}}

Despite their friendship, tensions between Graham and King emerged in 1958, when the sponsoring committee of a crusade that took place in San Antonio, Texas, on July 25 arranged for Graham to be introduced by that state's segregationist governor, Price Daniel. On July 23, King sent a letter to Graham and informed him that allowing Daniel to speak at a crusade which occurred the night before the state's Democratic Primary "can well be interpreted as your endorsement of racial segregation and discrimination."{{cite web |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol4/23-July-1958_ToGraham.pdf |title=To Billy Graham |access-date=December 9, 2013 |archive-date=October 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031211839/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol4/23-July-1958_ToGraham.pdf }} Graham's advisor, Grady Wilson, replied to King that "even though we do not see eye to eye with him on every issue, we still love him in Christ."{{cite web |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol4/28-July-1958_FromWilson.pdf |title=From Grady Wilson |access-date=December 9, 2013 |archive-date=October 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031212047/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol4/28-July-1958_FromWilson.pdf }} Though Graham's appearance with Daniel dashed King's hopes of holding joint crusades with Graham in the Deep South,{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=195–203}} the two remained friends; the next year King told a Canadian television audience that Graham had taken a "very strong stance against segregation."{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=195–203}} Graham and King would also come to differ on the Vietnam War. After King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech denouncing US intervention in Vietnam, Graham castigated him and others for their criticism of US foreign policy.

By the middle of 1960, King and Graham traveled together to the Tenth Baptist World Congress of the Baptist World Alliance. In 1963, Graham posted bail for King to be released from jail during the Birmingham (Alabama) campaign, according to Michael Long,{{sfn|Long|2008|pp=150–151}} and the King Center acknowledged that Graham had bailed King out of jail during the Albany Movement,{{cite web|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/theme/2179|title=The Archive – The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change|website=thekingcenter.org|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315074536/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/theme/2179|archive-date=March 15, 2015}} although historian Steven Miller told CNN he could not find any proof of the incident.{{cite news |publisher=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html |title=Where Billy Graham 'missed the mark' |date=February 22, 2018 |access-date=March 20, 2018 |first=John |last=Blake}} Graham held integrated crusades in Birmingham on Easter of 1964, in the aftermath of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and toured Alabama again in the wake of the violence that accompanied the first Selma to Montgomery march in 1965.

Following Graham's death, former SCLC official and future Atlanta politician Andrew Young (who spoke alongside Coretta Scott King at Graham's 1994 crusade in Atlanta),{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1gM6KphyINsC&q=andrew+young+wife+1994+billy+graham&pg=PA64|title=Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America|page=64|first1=Michael O.|last1=Emerson|first2=Christian|last2=Smith|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-514707-0|date=July 20, 2000|access-date=June 10, 2020}} acknowledged his friendship with Graham and stated that Graham did in fact travel with King to the 1965 European Baptist Convention.{{cite web|url=http://www.11alive.com/video/news/billy-graham-passes-away-andrew-young-remembers-the-reverend/85-8015124|title=Billy Graham passes away: Andrew Young remembers the reverend|access-date=April 5, 2018}} Young also claimed that Graham had often invited King to his crusades in the Northern states.{{cite web|url=http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/rev-billy-graham-remembered-as-a-friend-to-the-civil-rights-movement|title=Civil rights leader reflects on Billy Graham's impact on Atlanta, movement|last=FOX|date=February 22, 2018|access-date=April 5, 2018}} Former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader and future United States Congressman John Lewis also credited Graham as a major inspiration for his activism.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PqRiItBO-E Billy Graham passes away: Congressman John Lewis remembers the reverend] 11 Alive, February 21, 2018, Accessed October 6, 2020 Lewis described Graham as a "saint" and someone who "taught us how to live and who taught us how to die".

Graham's faith prompted his maturing view of race and segregation. He told a member of the Ku Klux Klan that integration was necessary, primarily for religious reasons. "There is no scriptural basis for segregation," Graham argued. "The ground at the foot of the cross is level, and it touches my heart when I see whites standing shoulder to shoulder with blacks at the cross."{{cite news |title=Billy Graham: an appreciation |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-87912863.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829105151/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-87912863.html |archive-date=August 29, 2011 |publisher=Baptist History and Heritage |date=June 22, 2006 |access-date=August 18, 2007}}

File:Cleared_version_Emperor_Haile_Selassie_I_with_The_Reverend_Billy_Graham.png, 1966 with Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia]]

The friendship between Graham and John Stott led to a further partnership in the Lausanne Movement, of which Graham was a founder. It built on Graham's 1966 World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin.{{clarify|date=December 2013}} In collaboration with Christianity Today, Graham convened what Time magazine described as "a formidable forum, possibly the widest–ranging meeting of Christians ever held"{{cite magazine |author= |title=Religion: A Challenge from Evangelicals |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879423,00.html |magazine=Time |date=August 5, 1974 |access-date=December 12, 2013}} with 2,700 participants from 150 nations gathering for the International Congress on World Evangelization. Women were represented by Millie Dienert, who chaired the prayer committee.{{cite news|title=Churchwoman to give talk|newspaper=The Oklahoman|url=https://www.oklahoman.com/article/2553590/churchwoman-to-give-talk|date=October 26, 1996|access-date=March 10, 2021}} This took place in Lausanne, Switzerland (July 16–25, 1974), and the movement which ensued took its name from the host city. Its purpose was to strengthen the global church for world evangelization, and to engage ideological and sociological trends which bore on this.{{cite AV media |people=Graham, Billy |date=July 16, 1974 |title=Why Lausanne? |medium=Audio recording |location=Lausanne, Switzerland |publisher=Billy Graham Center Archives |url=http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/docs/Lausanne/704/graham.htm |access-date=December 14, 2013 |archive-date=December 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214005434/http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/docs/Lausanne/704/graham.htm }} Graham invited Stott to be chief architect of the Lausanne Covenant, which issued from the Congress and which, according to Graham: "helped challenge and unite evangelical Christians in the great task of world evangelization."{{cite book |last=Stott |first=John |year=1997 |title=Making Christ known: historic mission documents from the Lausanne Movement, 1974–1989 |chapter=Foreword by Billy Graham |location=US |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |isbn=0-8028-4315-8}} The movement remains a significant fruit of Graham's legacy, with a presence in nearly every nation.{{cite journal |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/september/34.66.html |title=The Most Diverse Gathering Ever |author=Kennedy, John W. |journal=Christianity Today |date=September 29, 2010 |access-date=December 13, 2013}}

File:Billy Graham.JPG, June 1994]]

Graham played multiple roles that reinforced each other.{{Cite news |last=BBC news website |first=Billy Graham on BBC |date=February 21, 2018 |title=Billy Graham: Six things he believed |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43144752 |access-date=2023-04-14}} Grant Wacker identified eight major roles that he played: preacher, icon, Southerner, entrepreneur, architect (bridge builder), pilgrim, pastor, and his widely recognized status as America's Protestant patriarch, which was on a par with Martin Luther King and Pope John Paul II.Grant Wacker. America's Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation Look for the purposes 2014 p. 2.

He served as a trustee of the International Mission Board in the late 1950s and trustee of the SBC's Radio and Television Commission in the late 1960s.David Roach, [https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/billy-grahams-southern-baptist-ties-highlighted/ Billy Graham's Southern Baptist ties highlighted], baptistpress.com, USA, February 23, 2018

Graham deliberately reached into the secular world as a bridge builder. For example, as an entrepreneur he built his own pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair.{{cite web |url=http://www.in70mm.com/news/2005/5th_dimension/chapters/credits.htm |title='Man in the 5th Dimension' |work=The 70 mm Newsletter |date=March 6, 2005 |access-date=May 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525223201/http://www.in70mm.com/news/2005/5th_dimension/chapters/credits.htm |archive-date=May 25, 2011 }} He appeared as a guest on a 1969 Woody Allen television special, in which he joined the comedian in a witty exchange on theological matters.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xS9f-DI5ag4C&pg=PA52 |title=Love, Sex, Death & The Meaning of Life: The Films of Woody Allen |first=Foster |last=Hirsch |publisher=Da Capo Press |page=52 |year=2001 |isbn=0-306-81017-4 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} During the Cold War, Graham became the first evangelist of note to speak behind the Iron Curtain, addressing large crowds in countries throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, calling for peace.Gibbs, Nancy; Duffy, Michael (May 31, 2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070603153247/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627139,00.html "Billy Graham: A Spiritual Gift to All"]. Time. Archived from [http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627139,00.html the original] on June 3, 2007. During the apartheid era, Graham consistently refused to visit South Africa until its government allowed integrated seating for audiences. During his first crusade there in 1973, he openly denounced apartheid.{{sfn|Aikman|2007|pages=109–10}} Graham also corresponded with imprisoned South African leader Nelson Mandela during the latter's 27-year imprisonment.[http://crossmap.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-nelson-mandela-united-by-apartheid-opposition-7290] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211081713/http://crossmap.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-nelson-mandela-united-by-apartheid-opposition-7290|date=December 11, 2013}}

File:Billy Graham in het Feyenoord stadion.ogv

In 1984, he led a series of summer meetings—Mission England—in the United Kingdom, and he used outdoor football (soccer) fields for his venues.

Graham was interested in fostering evangelism around the world. In 1983, 1986 and 2000 he sponsored, organized and paid for massive training conferences for Christian evangelists; this was, at the time, the largest representation of nations ever held. Over 157 nations were gathered in 2000 at the RAI Convention Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. At one revival in Seoul, South Korea, Graham attracted more than one million people to a single service. He appeared in China in 1988; for his wife, Ruth, this was a homecoming, since she had been born in China to missionary parents. He appeared in North Korea in 1992.

On October 15, 1989, Graham received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the only person functioning as a minister who received a star in that capacity.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-16-me-93-story.html |title=Billy Graham Now a Hollywood Star |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 16, 1989 |access-date=November 25, 2012 |first=Sheryl |last=Stolberg}}

On September 22, 1991, Graham held his largest event in North America on the Great Lawn of Manhattan's Central Park. City officials estimated that more than 250,000 were in attendance. In 1998, Graham spoke to a crowd of scientists and philosophers at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference.

On September 14, 2001 (only three days after the World Trade Center attacks), Graham was invited to lead a service at Washington National Cathedral; the service was attended by President George W. Bush and past and present leaders. He also spoke at the memorial service following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. On June 24–26, 2005, Graham began what he said would be his last North American crusade: three days at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens, New York City. On the weekend of March 11–12, 2006, Graham held the "Festival of Hope" with his son, Franklin Graham. The festival was held in New Orleans, which was recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Graham prepared one last sermon, "My Hope America", which was released on DVD and played around America and possibly worldwide between November 7–10, 2013. November 7 was Graham's 95th birthday, and he hoped to cause a revival.{{cite web |url=http://myhopewithbillygraham.org/what-is-my-hope/? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120822005233/http://myhopewithbillygraham.org/what-is-my-hope/ |archive-date=August 22, 2012 |title=My Hope With Billy Graham Mission Statement |publisher=My Hope America Website |access-date=November 4, 2013}}

Graham said that his planned retirement was a result of his failing health; he had suffered from hydrocephalus from 1992 on.{{Cite news|url=http://www.journalnow.com/news/state_region/billy-graham-has-brain-shunt-adjusted/article_b1919452-0c66-560d-8e15-a283bfe48a7a.html|title=Billy Graham has brain shunt adjusted|last=Staff|first=JournalNow|work=Winston-Salem Journal|access-date=February 22, 2018}} In August 2005, Graham appeared at the groundbreaking for his library in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then 86, he used a walker during the ceremony. On July 9, 2006, he spoke at the Metro Maryland Franklin Graham Festival, held in Baltimore, Maryland, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

In April 2010, Graham was 91 and experiencing substantial vision, hearing, and balance loss when he made a rare public appearance at the re-dedication of the renovated Billy Graham Library.Tim Funk, [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92603/lion-in-winter-billy-graham-hearing.html "Lion in Winter: Billy Graham, Hearing and Sight Failing, Pays a Visit"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902121308/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92603/lion-in-winter-billy-graham-hearing.html |date=September 2, 2012 }}, Charlotte Observer, April 2010.

There was controversy within his family over Graham's proposed burial place. He announced in June 2007 that he and his wife would be buried alongside each other at the Billy Graham Library in his hometown of Charlotte. Graham's younger son Ned argued with older son Franklin about whether burial at a library would be appropriate. Ruth Graham had said that she wanted to be buried in the mountains at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove near Asheville, North Carolina, where she had lived for many years; Ned supported his mother's choice.{{cite news |title=A Family at Cross-Purposes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201338.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 13, 2006 |access-date=August 18, 2007}}{{cite news |title=Graham's wife in coma, close to death; both will be buried at library. |url=http://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/article12181541.html |work=The Herald |date=June 14, 2007 |access-date=February 28, 2018}} Novelist Patricia Cornwell, a family friend, also opposed burial at the library, calling it a tourist attraction. Franklin wanted his parents to be buried at the library site. When Ruth Graham died, it was announced that they would be buried at the library site.

In 2011, when asked if he would have done things differently, he said he would have spent more time at home with his family, studied more, and preached less.Sarah Pulliam Bailey, [https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/januaryweb-only/qabillygraham.html Q & A: Billy Graham on Aging, Regrets, and Evangelicals], christianitytoday.com, USA, January 21, 2011 Additionally, he said he would have participated in fewer conferences. He also said he had a habit of advising evangelists to save their time and avoid having too many commitments.

After his close relationships with Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, Graham tried to avoid explicit partisanship. Bailey says: "He declined to sign or endorse political statements, and he distanced himself from the Christian right ... His early years of fierce opposition to communism gave way to pleas for military disarmament and attention to AIDS, poverty and environmental threats."{{cite news |first=Sarah Pulliam |last=Bailey |title=How Donald Trump is bringing Billy Graham's complicated family back into White House circles |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/01/12/how-donald-trump-is-bringing-billy-grahams-complicated-family-back-into-white-house-circles/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 12, 2017}}

Graham was a lifelong registered member of the Democratic Party.{{cite news |title=Rev. Billy Graham on his lasting legacy |url=https://www.today.com/news/i-hope-theyll-say-he-was-faithful-wbna8326362 |publisher=Today Show |date=June 23, 2005 |access-date=September 20, 2008}} In 1960, he opposed the candidacy of John F. Kennedy, fearing that Kennedy, as a Catholic, would be bound to follow the Pope. Graham worked "behind the scenes" to encourage influential Protestant ministers to speak out against Kennedy. During the 1960 campaign, Graham met with a conference of Protestant ministers in Montreux, Switzerland, to discuss their mobilization of congregations to defeat Kennedy.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/transcripts/hour-five.html |title=God in America: 'The Soul of a Nation' |publisher=PBS |quote=Billy Graham convenes a meeting of American Protestant ministers in Montreux, Switzerland, for the purpose of discussing how they could ensure that John Kennedy would not be elected in November |date=October 11, 2010 |access-date=October 13, 2012}} According to the PBS Frontline program, God in America, Graham organized a meeting of hundreds of Protestant ministers in Washington, D.C., in September 1960 for this purpose; the meeting was led by Norman Vincent Peale.[https://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/study-guide/five.html Study Guide: God in America, Episode 5, "The Soul of America"] PBS Frontline, October 2010, program available online This was shortly before Kennedy's speech in Houston, Texas, on the separation of church and state; the speech was considered to be successful in meeting the concerns of many voters. After his election, Kennedy invited Graham to play golf in Palm Beach, Florida, after which Graham acknowledged Kennedy's election as an opportunity for Catholics and Protestants to come closer together.{{cite news|last1=Funk|first1=Tim|title=The Presidents' preacher: From Truman to Trump|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/special-reports/billy-graham-life/article201279814.html|access-date=February 22, 2018|work=The Charlotte Observer|date=February 21, 2018}}{{cite news|last1=Mize|first1=Douglas W.|title=John F. Kennedy, Billy Graham: irrecoverable moments in 1963|url=http://www.bpnews.net/41541/john-f-kennedy-billy-graham-irrecoverable-moments-in-1963|access-date=February 22, 2018|work=Baptist Press|date=November 2, 2013}} After they had discussed Jesus Christ at that meeting, the two remained in touch, meeting for the last time at a National Day of Prayer meeting in February 1963. In his autobiography, Graham claimed to have felt an "inner foreboding" in the week before Kennedy's assassination, and to have tried to contact him to say, "Don't go to Texas!"{{cite news|last1=Crosbie|first1=Robert C.|title=Billy Graham's Warning to JFK|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-c-crosby-dmin/billy-grahams-warning-to-_b_4289423.html|access-date=February 22, 2018|work=HuffPost|date=November 18, 2013}}

Graham opposed the large majority of abortions, but supported it as a legal option in a very narrow range of circumstances: rape, incest, and the life of the mother.{{Cite web|url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/97/07/06/reviews/graham-at74.html|title=America's Pastor: At 74, Billy Graham Begins to Sum Up, Regrets and All|last=Steinfels|first=Peter|date=February 3, 1993|website=The New York Times|access-date=June 4, 2019}} The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association states that "Life is sacred, and we must seek to protect all human life: the unborn, the child, the adult, and the aged."{{Cite web|url=https://billygraham.org/answer/why-is-abortion-such-a-big-issue-for-christians/|title=Why Is Abortion Such a Big Issue For Christians?|author=Staff|date=January 27, 2017|website=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association|access-date=June 4, 2019}}

Graham leaned toward the Republicans during the presidency of Richard Nixon, whom he had met and befriended as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower.{{cite journal |title=When worlds collide: politics, religion, and media at the 1970 East Tennessee Billy Graham Crusade |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19592304.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517015119/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19592304.html |archive-date=May 17, 2011 |first=Randall E. |last=King |journal=Journal of Church and State |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=273–295 |date=March 22, 1997 |access-date=August 18, 2007|doi=10.1093/jcs/39.2.273 }} He did not completely ally himself with the later religious right, saying that Jesus did not have a political party. He gave his support to various political candidates over the years.

In 2007, Graham explained his refusal to join Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority in 1979, saying: "I'm for morality, but morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak with authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists cannot be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle to preach to all people, right and left. I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future."{{cite news |first=Jonathan |last=Merritt |date=February 21, 2018 |title=Billy Graham, the Last Nonpartisan Evangelical? |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/opinion/billy-graham-nonpartisan-evangelical.html}}

According to a 2006 Newsweek interview, "For Graham, politics is a secondary to the Gospel ... When Newsweek asked Graham whether ministers – whether they think of themselves as evangelists, pastors or a bit of both – should spend time engaged with politics, he replied: 'You know, I think in a way that has to be up to the individual as he feels led of the Lord. A lot of things that I commented on years ago would not have been of the Lord, I'm sure, but I think you have some – like communism, or segregation, on which I think you have a responsibility to speak out.'"{{cite news |title=Pilgrim's Progress |page=4 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/46365/page/4 |work=Newsweek |date=August 14, 2006 |access-date=September 20, 2008 |archive-date=September 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905001010/http://www.newsweek.com/id/46365/page/4 }}

In 2011, although grateful to have met politicians who have spiritual needs like everyone else, he said he sometimes crossed the line and would have preferred to avoid politics.

In 2012, Graham endorsed the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/11/billy-graham-to-mitt-romney-ill-do-all-i-can-to-help-you/?wprss=rss_election-2012 |title=Billy Graham to Mitt Romney: 'I'll do all I can to help you' |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 11, 2012 |access-date=October 11, 2012 |author=O'Keefe, Ed |archive-date=May 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528143046/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/11/billy-graham-to-mitt-romney-ill-do-all-i-can-to-help-you/?wprss=rss_election-2012 }} Shortly after, apparently to accommodate Romney, who is a Mormon, references to Mormonism as a religious cult ("A cult is any group which teaches doctrines or beliefs that deviate from the biblical message of the Christian faith.") were removed from Graham's website.{{cite news |url=http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/16/billy-grahams-group-removes-mormon-cult-reference-from-website-after-romney-meeting/comment-page-14/ |title=Billy Graham site removes Mormon 'cult' reference after Romney meeting |publisher=CNN |date=October 16, 2012 |access-date=October 17, 2012 |archive-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227145553/http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/16/billy-grahams-group-removes-mormon-cult-reference-from-website-after-romney-meeting/comment-page-14/ }}{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/billy-graham-website-mormon-cult-removed_n_1971669.html |title=Billy Graham Website Removes Mormon 'Cult' Reference After Romney Meeting |work=HuffPost |date=October 16, 2012 |access-date=October 17, 2012}} Observers have questioned whether the support of Republican and religious right politics on issues such as same-sex marriage coming from Graham – who stopped speaking in public or to reporters – in fact reflects the views of his son, Franklin, head of the BGEA. Franklin denied this, and said that he would continue to act as his father's spokesperson rather than allowing press conferences.{{Cite news |url=http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/billy-graham-speaks-with-his-own-voice-son-franklin-says/article_a7bf875e-c2c4-5bd4-8dd8-6182ed451bfd.html |work=McClatchy News Service |date=October 24, 2012 |title=Billy Graham speaks with his own voice, son Franklin says |first=Michael |last=Gordon}} In 2016, according to his son Franklin, Graham voted for Donald Trump.{{Cite news |url=https://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/My-father-voted-for-Trump-Franklin-Graham-responds-to-Christianity-Todays-anti-Trump-op-ed-566374111.html |work=WVLT8 |date=December 20, 2019 |title=My father voted for Trump: Franklin Graham responds to anti-Trump op-ed }} This statement has been disputed by other children and grandchildren of Billy Graham, who argue that he was too ill to vote (even absentee), and who reiterated that Billy Graham's stated greatest regret in life was becoming involved in partisan politics.{{Cite news |url=https://relevantmagazine.com/current/is-franklin-graham-telling-the-truth-about-billy-graham-voting-for-trump |work=Relevant Magazine |date=December 23, 2019 |title=Is Franklin Graham Telling the Truth about Billy Graham Voting for Trump? }}

File:President John F. Kennedy and Billy Graham.jpg at the National Prayer Breakfast of 1961]]

File:Billy Graham (1966) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg

File:President Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, and Billy Graham at the National Prayer Breakfast.jpg and first lady Nancy Reagan greet Graham at the National Prayer Breakfast of 1981]]

Graham had a personal audience with many sitting US presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama – 12 consecutive presidents. After meeting with Truman in 1950, Graham told the press he had urged the president to counter communism in North Korea. Truman disliked him and did not speak with him for years after that meeting. Later he always treated his conversations with presidents as confidential.

Truman made his contempt for Graham public. He wrote about Graham in his 1974 autobiography Plain Speaking: "But now we've got just this one evangelist, this Billy Graham, and he's gone off the beam. He's ... well, I hadn't ought to say this, but he's one of those counterfeits I was telling you about. He claims he's a friend of all the presidents, but he was never a friend of mine when I was President. I just don't go for people like that. All he's interested in is getting his name in the paper."Miller, Merle (1974). Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman. New York: Putnam. p. 363.

Graham became a regular visitor during the tenure of Dwight D. Eisenhower. He purportedly urged him to intervene with federal troops in the case of the Little Rock Nine to gain admission of black students to public schools. House Speaker Sam Rayburn persuaded Congress to allow Graham to conduct the first religious service on the steps of the Capitol building in 1952.{{cite web |title=Charles Atlas with a Halo |url=https://www.religion-online.org/article/charles-atlas-with-a-halo-americas-billy-graham/ |author=Wacker, Grant |date=April 1, 1992 |pages=336–41 |work=The Christian Century}} Eisenhower asked for Graham while on his deathbed.{{cite news |title=The President Preacher; In Crisis, White House Turns to Billy Graham |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1044879.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516184043/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1044879.html |archive-date=May 16, 2011 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 18, 1991 |access-date=August 6, 2018}}

Graham met and became a close friend of Vice President Richard Nixon,{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=204–205}} and supported Nixon, a Quaker, for the 1960 presidential election. He convened an August strategy session of evangelical leaders in Montreux, Switzerland, to plan how best to oppose Nixon's Roman Catholic opponent, Senator John F. Kennedy.H. Larry Ingle, Nixon's First Cover-up: The Religious Life of a Quaker President. pp. 101–04, University of Missouri Press, 2015, {{ISBN|978-0-8262-2042-4}} Though a registered Democrat, Graham also maintained firm support of aggression against the foreign threat of communism and strongly sympathized with Nixon's views regarding American foreign policy.{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=203–210}} Thus, he was more sympathetic to Republican administrations.{{cite news |title=The Essence of Billy Graham; A Warm but Honest Biography of the Evangelist |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1091805.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023081801/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1091805.html |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 25, 1991 |access-date=August 18, 2007}}

On December 16, 1963, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was impressed by the way Graham had praised the work of his great-grandfather, George Washington Baines, invited Graham to the White House to receive spiritual counseling. After this visit, Johnson frequently called on Graham for more spiritual counseling as well as companionship. As Graham recalled to his biographer Frady, "I almost used the White House as a hotel when Johnson was President. He was always trying to keep me there. He just never wanted me to leave."{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=195–203}}

In contrast with his more limited access with Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, Graham would not only visit the White House private quarters but would also at times kneel at Johnson's bedside and pray with him whenever the President requested him to do so. Graham once recalled "I have never had many people do that."{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=195–203}} In addition to his White House visits, Graham visited Johnson at Camp David and occasionally met with the President when he retreated to his private ranch in Stonewall, Texas. Johnson was also the first sitting president to attend one of Graham's crusades, in Houston, Texas, in 1965.{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=195–203}}

During the 1964 United States presidential election, supporters of Republican nominee Barry Goldwater sent an estimated 2 million telegrams to Graham's hometown of Montreat, North Carolina, and sought the preacher's endorsement. Supportive of Johnson's domestic policies, and hoping to preserve his friendship with the president, Graham resisted pressure to endorse Goldwater and stayed neutral in the election. Following Johnson's election victory, Graham's role as the main White House pastor was solidified. At one point, Johnson even considered making Graham a member of his cabinet and grooming him to be his successor, though Graham insisted he had no political ambitions and wished to remain a preacher.{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=195–203}} Graham's biographer David Aikman acknowledged that the preacher was closer to Johnson than any other president he had ever known.{{sfn|Aikman|2010|pp=203–210}}

He spent the last night of Johnson's presidency in the White House, and he stayed for the first night of Nixon's. After Nixon's victorious 1968 presidential campaign, Graham became an adviser, regularly visiting the White House and leading the president's private worship services. In a meeting they had with Golda Meir, Nixon offered Graham the ambassadorship to Israel, but he declined the offer.

File:Barack Obama and Billy Graham.jpg and Graham meet at Graham's home in Montreat, North Carolina, April 2010]]

In 1970, Nixon appeared at a Graham revival in East Tennessee, which they thought safe politically. It drew one of the largest crowds in Tennessee of protesters against the Vietnam War. Nixon was the first president to give a speech from an evangelist's platform. Their friendship became strained in 1973 when Graham rebuked Nixon for his post-Watergate behavior and the profanity heard on the Watergate tapes.{{cite web |last1=Elliston |first1=Jon |title=Billy Graham 'absolutely crushed' by Richard Nixon's profanity in White House recordings |url=https://carolinapublicpress.org/16541/billy-graham-absolutely-crushed-by-richard-nixons-profanity-in-white-house-recordings/ |website=carolinapublicpress.org |date=August 23, 2013 |publisher=Carolina Public Press |access-date=August 24, 2019}} They eventually reconciled after Nixon's resignation.

Graham officiated at one presidential burial and one presidential funeral. He presided over the graveside services of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973 and took part in eulogizing the former president. Graham officiated at the funeral services of former First Lady Pat Nixon in 1993, and the death and state funeral of Richard Nixon in 1994.{{cite web |title=Remembering Billy Graham |url=https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2018/02/remembering-dr-billy-graham/ |website=nixonfoundation.org |date=February 21, 2018 |publisher=Richard Nixon Foundation |access-date=August 24, 2019}} During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Graham asserted that he believed President Bill Clinton to be "a spiritual person".{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} He was unable to attend the state funeral of Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004, as he was recovering from hip replacement surgery.{{cite web |url=http://christianity.about.com/od/glossary/p/billygraham.htm |title=Biography of Evangelist Billy Graham |publisher=Christianity.about.com |access-date=October 20, 2012 |archive-date=April 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403170534/http://christianity.about.com/od/glossary/p/billygraham.htm }} This was mentioned by George W. Bush in his eulogy.

On April 25, 2010, President Barack Obama visited Graham at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, where they "had a private prayer".{{cite news |title=Obama Visits the Rev. Billy Graham |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/obama-visits-the-rev-billy-graham/ |work=The New York Times |date=April 25, 2010 |access-date=April 25, 2010 |first=Peter |last=Baker}}

Graham had a friendly relationship with Queen Elizabeth II and was frequently invited by the Royal Family to special events.{{Cite news|url=https://billygraham.org/story/billy-graham-and-the-queen/|title=Billy Graham Reflects on His Friendship with Queen Elizabeth II|work=Billy Graham Evangelistic Association|access-date=January 12, 2018}}{{Cite news|url=http://people.com/royals/queen-elizabeth-real-life-friendship-evangelist-billy-graham/|title=The Crown: The Truth Behind Queen Elizabeth's Real-Life Friendship with Evangelist Billy Graham|work=People|access-date=January 12, 2018}} They first met in 1955, and Graham preached at Windsor Chapel at the Queen's invitation during the following year. Their friendly relationship may have been because they shared a traditional approach to the practical aspects of the Christian faith.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/billy-graham-dead-queen-elizabeth-ii-friendship-us-evangelical-preacher-the-crown-visit-a8221816.html|title=Billy Graham dead: Truth behind Queen Elizabeth II's friendship with the US evangelical preacher|work=The Independent|access-date=January 25, 2018|first=Clarisse |last=Loughrey |date=February 21, 2018}}

Graham was outspoken against communism and supported the American Cold War policy, including the Vietnam War. In a secret letter from April 15, 1969, made public twenty years later, Graham encouraged Nixon to bomb the dikes in North Vietnam if the peace talks in Paris should fail. This action would "destroy the economy of North Vietnam" and, by Nixon's estimate, would have killed a million people.{{cite news| url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2002/03/18/the-plan-to-kill-a-million-people/ |author=Alexander Cockburn|title=The plan to kill a million people| work=Tampa Bay Times|date=September 2, 2005 |access-date=June 7, 2020}}

In 1982, Graham preached in the Soviet Union and attended a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the war dead of World War II, when the Soviets were American allies in the fight against Nazism. He voiced fear of a second holocaust, not against Jews, but "a nuclear holocaust" and advised that "our greatest contribution to world peace is to live with Christ every day.""Dr. Billy Graham trying to avoid offending Soviets", United Press International story in Minden Press-Herald, May 10, 1982, p. 1

In a 1999 speech, Graham discussed his relationship with the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, praising him as a "different kind of communist" and "one of the great fighters for freedom in his country against the Japanese". Graham went on to note that although he had never met Kim's son and then-current North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, he had "exchanged gifts with him".[http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2553945.ece Preacher power: America's God squad] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817195823/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2553945.ece |date=August 17, 2007}} Independent Article, Preacher power: America's God squad, July 25, 2007;

During the Watergate affair, there were suggestions that Graham had expressed antisemitic opinions in private discussions with Richard Nixon; he denied this, stressing his efforts to build bridges to the Jewish community. In 2002, the controversy was renewed when declassified "Richard Nixon tapes" confirmed remarks made by Graham to Nixon three decades earlier.[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/us/billy-graham-responds-to-lingering-anger-over-1972-remarks-on-jews.html Billy Graham Responds to Lingering Anger Over 1972 Remarks on Jews], The New York Times, March 17, 2002 Captured on the tapes, Graham agreed with Nixon that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with Nixon, and suggesting that if Nixon was re-elected that they might be able to do something about it.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1850077.stm "Graham regrets Jewish slur"], BBC, March 2, 2002.

When the tapes were made public, Graham apologized[https://web.archive.org/web/20061018202154/http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=32770 "Graham Apology Not Enough"], Eric J. Greenberg, United Jewish Communities.{{cite news |title=Pilgrim's Progress, p. 5 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/46365/page/5 |work=Newsweek |date=August 14, 2006 |access-date=September 20, 2008 |archive-date=March 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305211344/http://www.newsweek.com/id/46365/page/5 }} and said, "Although I have no memory of the occasion, I deeply regret comments I apparently made in an Oval Office conversation with President Nixon ... some 30 years ago. ... They do not reflect my views and I sincerely apologize for any offense caused by the remarks."{{cite news |title=Billy Graham apologizes for anti-Semitic comments in 1972 conversation with Nixon |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/News/2002/03/Billy-Graham-Apologizes-For-Anti-Semitic-Comments-In-1972-Conversation-With-Nixon.aspx |publisher=BeliefNet |author=Newton, Christopher (Associated Press Writer) |date=March 2, 2002 |access-date=April 28, 2012}} According to Newsweek magazine, "[T]he shock of the revelation was magnified because of Graham's longtime support of Israel and his refusal to join in calls for conversion of the Jews."

In 2009, more Nixon tapes were released, in which Graham is heard in a 1973 conversation with Nixon referring to a group of Jewish journalists as "the synagogue of Satan". A spokesman for Graham said that Graham has never been an antisemite and that the comparison (in accord with the context of the quotation in the Book of Revelation{{cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+3:9&version=NIV|title=Revelation 3:9|work=Bible Gateway}}) was directed specifically at those claiming to be Jews, but not holding to traditional Jewish values.{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628074206/http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-06-24-graham-tapes_N.htm|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-06-24-graham-tapes_N.htm |title=In Nixon tapes, Billy Graham refers to 'synagogue of Satan' |first=Cathy Lynn |last=Grossman |work=USA Today |access-date=July 31, 2009 |date=June 24, 2009 |archive-date=June 28, 2009}}

After a 1957 crusade in New York, some more fundamentalist Protestant Christians criticized Graham for his ecumenism, even calling him "Antichrist".{{Cite book |first=Sherwood Eliot |last=Wirt |title=Billy: A Personal Look at Billy Graham, the World's Best-loved Evangelist |publisher=Crossway Books |location=Wheaton, Illinois |year=1997 |page=[https://archive.org/details/billypersonalloo00wirt/page/97 97] |isbn=0-89107-934-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/billypersonalloo00wirt/page/97 }}

Graham expressed inclusivist views, suggesting that people without explicit faith in Jesus can be saved. In a 1997 interview with Robert Schuller, Graham said:

{{Blockquote|I think that everybody that loves or knows Christ, whether they are conscious of it or not, they are members of the body of Christ ... [God] is calling people out of the world for his name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ because they have been called by God. They may not know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something they do not have, and they turn to the only light they have, and I think that they are saved and they are going to be with us in heaven.Cited in Iain Murray, Evangelicalism Divided (2000), pp. 73–74.}}

Iain Murray, writing from a conservative Protestant standpoint, argues that "Graham's concessions are sad words from one who once spoke on the basis of biblical certainties."Iain Murray, Evangelicalism Divided (2000), p. 74.

{{further|Anonymous Christian}}

In 1970, Graham stated that feminism was "an echo of our overall philosophy of permissiveness" and that women did not want to be "competitive juggernauts pitted against male chauvinists".{{cite journal |title=Jesus and the Liberated Woman |first1=Billy |last1=Graham |journal=Ladies' Home Journal |date=December 1970 |volume=87 |pages=40–4}}{{cite news |title=Billy Graham Enters Women's Lib Controversy |date=November 28, 1970 |newspaper=The Kokomo Tribune |page=7 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/44885500/}} He further stated that the role of wife, mother, and homemaker was the destiny of "real womanhood" according to the Judeo-Christian ethic. Graham's assertions, published in the Ladies' Home Journal, elicited letters of protest, and were offered as rebuttal to the establishment of "The New Feminism" section of the publication that had been added following a sit-in protest at the Journal offices demanding female representation on the staff of the publication.{{cite web |url=http://www.feminist.org/research/chronicles/fc1970.html |title=Feminist Chronicles – 1970 |publisher=Feminist Majority Foundation |access-date=May 19, 2015}}{{cite book |title=Watching Women's Liberation, 1970: Feminism's Pivotal Year on the Network News |page=112 |url={{Google books|tmtzAwAAQBAJ|page=112|plainurl=yes}} |first1=Bonnie J. |last1=Dow |year=2014 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-09648-8}}{{cite web |url=https://libcom.org/history/1970-feminist-sit-ladies-home-journal |title=1970: Feminist Sit in at Ladies Home Journal |first=ShaKea |last=Alston |date=May 24, 2015}}{{cite book |first1=Ellen Ott |last1=Marshall |chapter=A Matter of Pride, A Feminist Response |pages=79–91 |chapter-url={{Google books|pVAeaDLnCJoC|page=79|plainurl=yes}} |editor1-first=Michael G. |editor1-last=Long |year=2008 |title=The Legacy of Billy Graham: Critical Reflections on America's Greatest Evangelist |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-23656-4}}

Graham's daughter Bunny recounted her father denying her and her sisters higher education. As reported in The Washington Post:{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/02/21/divorce-drugs-drinking-billy-grahams-children-and-their-absent-father/ |title=Divorce, drugs, drinking: Billy Graham's children and their absent father |first=William |last=Martin |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 21, 2018 |access-date=February 23, 2018}}

Bunny remembers being groomed for the life of wife, homemaker, and mother. "There was never an idea of a career for us", she said. "I wanted to go to nursing school – Wheaton had a five-year program – but Daddy said no. No reason, no explanation, just 'No.' It wasn't confrontational and he wasn't angry, but when he decided, that was the end of it." She added, "He has forgotten that. Mother has not."

Graham's daughter Anne is a Christian minister, leading a Christian ministry organization known as AnGeL Ministries.{{Cite book |last=Bowler |first=Kate |title=The Preacher's Wife. The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities |date=2019 |isbn=9780691185972 |pages=327|publisher=Princeton University Press }}

Graham talked his future wife, Ruth, into abandoning her ambition to evangelize in Tibet in favor of staying in the United States to marry him – and that to do otherwise would be "to thwart God's obvious will". After Ruth agreed to marry him, Graham cited the Bible for claiming authority over her, saying, "then I'll do the leading and you do the following". According to her obituary, Ruth was active in Christian ministry after they married, often teaching Sunday School.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061500196.html AP via Washington Post "Billy Graham's Wife Ruth Dies at 87" June 15, 2007]{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Her obituary states that in addition to his two sons, all three of Graham's daughters would become Christian ministers as well.[http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-graham15jun15,0,56499.story?page=1&coll=la-home-center Los Angeles "Ruth Graham, 87; had active role as wife of evangelist" June 15, 2007]

Graham regarded homosexuality as a sin, and in 1974 described it as "a sinister form of perversion".{{cite news|last1=Sanders|first1=Linley|title=Internet Reacts to Obama Tweet About Billy Graham|url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/internet-reacts-to-obama-tweet-about-billy-graham|access-date=March 2, 2018|work=Teen Vogue|date=February 21, 2018}}{{cite news|last1=Morris|first1=Tim|title=The complicated legacy of Billy Graham: Gospel or politics?|url=http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2018/02/billy_graham_gospel_politics.html|access-date=March 2, 2018|work=The Times-Picayune|date=February 25, 2018}} In 1993, he said that he thought AIDS might be a "judgment" from God, but two weeks later he retracted the remark, saying: "I don't believe that, and I don't know why I said it."{{cite news|last1=Gjelten|first1=Tom|title='America's Pastor' Billy Graham Dies at 99|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/02/21/136224476/americas-pastor-billy-graham-dies-at-99|access-date=March 2, 2018|publisher=NPR|date=February 21, 2018}} Graham opposed same-sex marriage, stating that "I believe the home and marriage is the foundation of our society and must be protected."[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43142263 Billy Graham: Influential US evangelist dies at 99]. BBC News, February 21, 2018.{{Cite web |title=Billy Graham backs N.C. anti-gay marriage amendment |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=54043309&itype=CMSID |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}} Graham's obituary noted that his stated position was that he did not want to talk about homosexuality as a political issue. Corky Siemaszko, writing for NBC News, noted that after the 1993 incident, Graham "largely steered clear of the subject".{{cite news|last1=Siemaszko|first1=Corky|title=Franklin Graham followed in his father Billy's footsteps, but took a right-leaning path|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/franklin-graham-followed-his-father-billy-s-footsteps-took-right-n849981|access-date=March 2, 2018|work=NBC News|date=February 21, 2018}} However, Graham appeared to take a more tolerant approach to the issue of homosexuality when he appeared on the May 2, 1997, episode of 20/20, stating "I think that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but the Bible also teaches that pride is a sin, jealously is a sin, and hate is a sin, evil thoughts are a sin, and so I don't think that homosexuality should be chosen as the overwhelming sin that we are doing today."{{cite news|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_chur1.htm|title=Homosexuality And Religion:An Introduction|publisher=Religious Tolerance.org|access-date=December 19, 2020}}

In 2012, Graham and his son, Franklin, publicly endorsed North Carolina Amendment 1, a measure to ban same-sex marriage in the state. They both condemned President Obama's public declaration of support for same-sex marriage later that year.Ed Kilgore, [http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/billy-graham-lived-at-the-crossroads-of-faith-and-power.html Billy Graham Lived at the Crossroads of Faith and Power], New York, February 21, 2018[http://www.wisconsingazette.com/news/billy-graham-urges-anti-gay-vote-in-n-c/article_d63fec14-f8b6-5e3d-89b5-272ab4f5517b.html Billy Graham urges anti-gay vote in N.C.]. Wisconsin Gazette, May 12, 2012.

Graham was frequently honored by surveys, including "Greatest Living American", and consistently ranked among the most admired persons in the United States and the world. He appeared most frequently on Gallup's list of most admired people.{{cite magazine |title=The Billy pulpit: Graham's career in the mainline |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2004/07/The-Billy-Pulpit.aspx |magazine=Christian Century |date=November 15, 2003 |page=2 |access-date=August 18, 2007}} On the day of his death, Graham had been on Gallup's Top 10 "Most Admired Man" list 61 times, and held the highest rank of any person since the list began in 1948.Frank Newport,[http://news.gallup.com/poll/228089/news-billy-graham-admired-list-times.aspx "In the News: Billy Graham on 'Most Admired' List 61 Times"], Gallup, February 21, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.

In 1967, he was the first Protestant to receive an honorary degree from Belmont Abbey College, a Roman Catholic school.{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Corey |journal=Gaston Gazette |url=http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/belmont-38887-president-abbey.html |title=Former Belmont Abbey College president dies at 85 |date=October 10, 2009 |access-date=December 22, 2010 |archive-date=February 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228100442/http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/belmont-38887-president-abbey.html }} In 1983, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Ronald Reagan.{{cite web|url=https://www.reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1983/22383c.htm|title=Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom|access-date=December 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222090649/https://www.reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1983/22383c.htm|archive-date=December 22, 2016}}

Graham received the Big Brother of the Year Award for his work on behalf of children. He was cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute for his contributions to race relations. He received the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion and the Sylvanus Thayer Award for his commitment to "Duty, Honor, Country". The "Billy Graham Children's Health Center" in Asheville is named after and funded by Graham.{{cite news |title=Billy and Ruth Graham awarded Congressional Gold Medal for service. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071004211356/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18252882.html |archive-date=October 4, 2007 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18252882.html |publisher=Knight-Ridder News Service |date=May 2, 1996 |access-date=August 18, 2007}}

In 1999, the Gospel Music Association inducted Graham into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame to recognize his contributions to Christian music artists such as Michael W. Smith, dc Talk, Amy Grant, Jars of Clay, and others who performed at the Billy Graham Crusades.[http://hof.doveawards.com/speaker-lineup/billy-graham/ "Inductees Archive: Billy Graham".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226232641/http://hof.doveawards.com/speaker-lineup/billy-graham/ |date=February 26, 2018 }} GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 3, 2018. Graham was the first non-musician inducted,[https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/remembering-billy-graham-a-timeline-of-the-evangelists-life-and-ministry CNN. "Remembering Billy Graham: A timeline of the evangelist's life and ministry".] ABC Action News. February 21, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018. and had also helped to revitalize interest in hymns and create new favorite songs.[https://books.google.com/books?id=wDskDwAAQBAJ&dq=BILLY+GRAHAM+GOSPEL+MUSIC+HALL+OF+FAME&pg=PA75 "Singing to save".] Billy Graham: American Pilgrim. 2017. Edited by Andrew Finstuen, Grant Wacker & Anne Blue Wills. Oxford University Press. pp.75–76. Retrieved March 3, 2018. Singer Michael W. Smith was active in Billy Graham Crusades as well as Samaritan's Purse.{{cite web |title=Biography |url=http://www.michaelwsmith.com/bio.html |work=Michael W Smith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526194544/http://www.michaelwsmith.com/bio.html |archive-date=May 26, 2011 }} Smith sang "Just As I Am" in a tribute to Graham at the 44th GMA Dove Awards.{{Cite AV media |title=44th Annual Dove Awards |publisher=Up |time=1:39 }} He also sang it at the memorial service honoring Graham at the United States Capitol rotunda on February 28, 2018.{{cite web|url=http://www.gospelmusic.org/michael-w-smith-leads-just-as-i-am-during-rev-billy-graham-capitol-service/|title=Michael W. Smith Leads "Just As I Am" During Rev. Billy Graham Capitol Service|date=March 1, 2018|publisher=Gospel Music Association|access-date=March 2, 2018}}

In 2000, former First Lady Nancy Reagan presented the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to Graham. Graham was a friend of the Reagans for years.{{cite web |url=http://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs/cpa/awards.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061016075344/http://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs/cpa/awards.asp |archive-date=October 16, 2006 |title=The Ronald Reagan Freedom Award |access-date=February 24, 2007 |publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation}}

In 2001, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him an honorary knighthood. The honor was presented to him by Sir Christopher Meyer, British Ambassador to the US at the British Embassy in Washington DC on December 6, 2001.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1364628/Honorary-knighthood-for-Billy-Graham.html|date=December 7, 2001|work=The Daily Telegraph|title=Honorary knighthood for Billy Graham|last1=Davies|first1=Caroline}}

A professorial chair is named after him at the Alabama Baptist-affiliated Samford University, the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth. His alma mater, Wheaton College, has an archive of his papers at the Billy Graham Center. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry. Graham received 20 honorary degrees and refused at least that many more. In San Francisco, California, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is sometimes erroneously called the "Billy Graham Civic Auditorium" and incorrectly considered to be named in his honor, but it is actually named after the rock and roll promoter Bill Graham.{{cite web |url=http://www.city-data.com/articles/Bill-Graham-Civic-Auditorium.html |title=Bill Graham Civic Auditorium |work=city-data.com |access-date=March 21, 2014}}

On May 31, 2007, the $27 million Billy Graham Library was officially dedicated in Charlotte. Former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton appeared to celebrate with Graham.{{Cite journal |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3231108 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019002545/https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3231108 |archive-date=October 19, 2007 |journal=ABC News |title=Ex-Presidents at Graham Library Opening}} A highway in Charlotte bears Graham's name, as does I-240 near Graham's home in Asheville.

As Graham's final crusade approached in 2005, his friend Pat Boone chose to create a song in honor of Graham,[http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/february-web-only/billy-graham-playlist-lyrics-youtube-just-as-i-am-pat-boone.html Moring, Mark. "The ultimate Billy Graham playlist".] Christianity Today. February 22, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018. which he co-wrote and produced with David Pack and Billy Dean,[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbjERoKiM20 "Thank You Billy Graham: The Inspiration".] patbooneus. September 16, 2008. Retrieved March 3, 2018. who digitally combined studio recordings of various artists into what has been called a "'We Are the World'-type" production.[http://metrovoicenews.com/video-tribute-billy-graham-featuring-entertainers-knew/ "Video tribute to Billy Graham featuring entertainers who knew Him".] Metro Voice and wire services. Retrieved March 3, 2018. Titled "Thank You Billy Graham", the song's video[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cZn5grlA4E "Thank You Billy Graham".] GoldLabelArtists. August 13, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2018. was introduced by Bono, and included Faith Hill, MxPx, John Ford Coley, John Elefante, Mike Herrera, Michael McDonald, Jeffrey Osborne, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Connie Smith, Michael Tait, and other singers, with brief narration by Larry King.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hznVG-u3T20 "Thank You Billy Graham: The Making of".] Billy Dean. March 26, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2018. It was directed by Brian Lockwood,{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1471338/ |title=Thank You Billy Graham |publisher=IMDb }} as a tribute album.[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/232648275 "Thank you Billy Graham : a musical tribute to one who changed our world with one message".] WorldCat. Retrieved March 5, 2018. In 2013, the album My Hope: Songs Inspired by the Message and Mission of Billy Graham was recorded by Amy Grant, Kari Jobe, Newsboys, Matthew West, tobyMac, and other music artists with new songs to honor Graham during his My Hope America with Billy Graham outreach and the publication of his book The Reason for My Hope: Salvation.[https://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4712 "My Hope: Songs Inspired by the Message of Billy Graham".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306083228/https://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4712 |date=March 6, 2018 }} Christian Cinema.com. Retrieved March 5, 2018. Other songs written to honor Graham include "Hero of the Faith" written by Eddie Carswell of NewSong, which became a hit,[https://books.google.com/books?id=xR7MdpuSlAEC&dq=Eddie+Carswell+hero+of+the+faith&pg=PT583 "Gospel".] All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music. 2001. Edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra & Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Hal Leonard Corp. p. 610. Retrieved March 3, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-87930-627-4}}. "Billy, You're My Hero" by Greg Hitchcock,[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtFa0EdzV8 "The Billy Graham Song – "Billy, You're My Hero".] Greg Hitchcock Music. September 25, 2009. Retrieved March 3, 2018. "Billy Graham" by The Swirling Eddies, "Billy Graham's Bible" by Joe Nichols, "Billy Frank" by Randy Stonehill, and an original song titled "Just as I Am" by Fernando Ortega.

The movie Billy: The Early Years officially premiered in theaters on October 10, 2008, less than one month before Graham's 90th birthday.The Christian Post, [http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080729/billy-graham-movie-prepares-for-oct-10-release.htm Billy Graham Movie Prepares for Oct 10 Release], June 29, 2008. Graham did not comment on the film, but his son Franklin released a critical statement on August 18, 2008, noting that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association "has not collaborated with nor does it endorse the movie".[http://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=358 BGEA] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904064456/http://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=358 |date=September 4, 2008}} Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, A response from Franklin Graham, August 18, 2008 Graham's eldest daughter, Gigi, praised the film and was hired as a consultant to help promote it.The Christian Post, [http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080826/franklin-graham-among-billy-movie-critics.htm "Franklin Graham Among 'Billy' Movie Critics"], Christian Post, August 26, 2008

He has received several honorary doctorates.Thomas P. Johnston, Examining Billy Graham's Theology of Evangelism, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2003, p. 445-446

• 1948: Doctor of Divinity, Newcastle University
• 1948: Doctor of Humanities, Bob Jones University
• 1950: Doctor of Laws, Houghton University
• 1954: Doctor of Divinity, Baylor University
• 1956: Doctor of Letters, Wheaton College
• 1967: Doctor of Humane Letters, Belmont Abbey College
• 1973: Doctor of Humane Letters, Jacksonville University
• 1981: Doctor of Theology, Christian Theological Seminary (Warsaw, Poland)
• 1981: Doctor of Theology, Reformed Theological Academy (Debrecan, Hungary)
• 1985: Doctor of Christianity, Dallas Baptist University
• 1990: Doctor of Humanities, Hong Kong Baptist University
• 1996: Doctor of Divinity, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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• The Salvation Army's Distinguished Service Medal[https://books.google.com/books?id=XuJKAwAAQBAJ&dq=The+Salvation+Army%27s+Distinguished+Service+Medal+billy+graham&pg=PA446 Johnston, Thomas P.(2003). "Appendix 4: Other Awards and Honors".] Examining Billy Graham's Theology of Evangelism. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 445–451. Retrieved March 1, 2018. {{ISBN|978-1-59244-162-4}}.
• Who's Who in America listing annually since 1954[https://billygraham.org/about/biographies/billy-graham/#biography "Profile: William (Billy) F. Graham, Jr".] Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
• Freedoms Foundation Distinguished Persons Award (several years){{cite book | last1=Climo | first1=J. | last2=Cattell | first2=M.G. | title=Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives | publisher=AltaMira Press | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-7591-0178-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ICFN4iJpgwC&pg=RA1-PA5 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | page=5}}
• Gold Medal Award, National Institute of Social Science, New York, 1957{{cite book | last=Aikman | first=D. | title=Great Souls: Six Who Changed a Century | publisher=Lexington Books | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-7391-0438-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/greatsouls00davi | url-access=registration | access-date=February 22, 2018 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatsouls00davi/page/5 5]–6}}
• Annual Gutenberg Award of the Chicago Bible Society, 1962{{cite book | title=The American Lutheran | publisher=American Lutheran Publicity Bureau | issue=v. 46 | year=1963 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igIoAAAAMAAJ | access-date=February 22, 2018 | page=23}}
• Gold Award of the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute, 1964, for contribution to race relations, presented by Senator Javits (NY)
• Speaker of the Year Award, awarded by Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha, 1965{{sfn |Wacker |2014 |p=47}}
• The American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award, 1965[http://www.achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/all-honorees/"Golden Plate Awardees listed by year".] Academy of Achievement. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
• Horatio Alger Award, 1965"William Franklin Graham, Jr." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Biography in Context,
• National Citizenship Award by the Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America, 1965
• Wisdom Award of Honor, 1965{{cite book | last=Adler | first=B. | title=Ask Billy Graham: The World's Best-Loved Preacher Answers Your Most Important Questions | publisher=Thomas Nelson | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4185-6868-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NKHSpR6brgC&pg=PA51 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | page=51}}
• The Torch of Liberty Plaque by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1969{{sfn |Wacker |2014 |p=47}}
• George Washington Honor Medal from Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, for his sermon "The Violent Society", 1969 (also in 1974)
• Honored by Morality in Media for "fostering the principles of truth, taste, inspiration and love in media", 1969
• International Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, 1971[http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/np00020004/1971-03-24/ed-1/seq-3.pdf "Brotherhood Award".] Courier-Journal of Rochester, New York. March 24, 1971. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
• Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Broadcasters, 1972{{cite book | title=Cite Graham | publisher=Billboard

| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zigEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | page=20| date=February 19, 1972

}}

• Franciscan International Award, 1972
• Sylvanus Thayer Award from United States Military Academy Association of Graduates at West Point (The most prestigious award the United States Military Academy gives to a US citizen), 1972
• Direct Selling Association's Salesman of the Decade award, 1975{{sfn |Wacker |2014 |p=47}}
• Philip Award from the Association of United Methodist Evangelists, 1976[http://www.naume.org/philip-award "Philip Award".] The National Association of United Methodist Evangelists. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
• American Jewish Committee's First National Interreligious Award, 1977[https://books.google.com/books?id=5o4P-6Fe9nIC&dq=American+Jewish+Committee+First+National+Interreligious+Award%2C+1977&pg=PA53 Grossman, Lawrence. "The organized Jewish community and evangelical America".] Uneasy Allies?: Evangelical and Jewish Relations. Lexington Books. Edited by Alan Mittleman, Byron Johnson and Nancy Isserman. 2007. p. 53. Retrieved March 3, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-7391-1966-2}}.
• Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission's Distinguished Communications Medal, 1977
• Jabotinsky Centennial Medal presented by The Jabotinsky Foundation, 1980
• Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame award, 1981{{cite web | title=Remembering Billy Graham: A timeline of the evangelist's life and ministry | publisher=WGBA | date=February 21, 2018 | url=https://www.nbc26.com/news/national/remembering-billy-graham-a-timeline-of-the-evangelists-life-and-ministry | access-date=February 22, 2018}}
• Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion award, 1982
• Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, 1983
• National Religious Broadcasters Award of Merit, 1986
• North Carolina Award in Public Service, 1986{{cite book | title=Men of Achievement | publisher=Taylor & Francis | issue=v. 15 | year=1993 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1DloAAAAMAAJ | access-date=February 22, 2018 | page=293| isbn=978-0-948875-75-5 }}
• Good Housekeeping Most Admired Men Poll, 1997, No. 1 for five years in a row and 16th time in top 10
• Congressional Gold Medal (along with wife Ruth), highest honor Congress can bestow on a private citizen, 1996{{cite book |last=Bruns |first=Roger |chapter=A Family Crusade |chapter-url={{Google books|HQvtTF1HSL8C|page=141|plainurl=yes}} |pages=141–2 |title=Billy Graham: A Biography |publisher=Greenwood Press |series=Greenwood biographies |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-313-32718-6}}
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Freedom Award, for monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom, 2000{{cite book | last1=Angier | first1=M.E. | last2=Pond | first2=S. | last3=Angier | first3=D. | title=101 Best Ways to Get Ahead | publisher=Success Networks International | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-9704175-3-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fMkIPkgS-zYC&pg=PA83 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | page=83}}
• Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for his international contribution to civic and religious life over 60 years, 2001[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1364628/Honorary-knighthood-for-Billy-Graham.html Davies, Caroline. "Honorary knighthood for Billy Graham".] The Telegraph. December 7, 2001. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
• Many honorary degrees including University of Northwestern – St. Paul, Minnesota, where Graham was once president, named its newest campus building the Billy Graham Community Life Commons.{{cite web |url=http://www.unwsp.edu/web/10141/1611 |title=Northwestern Celebrates Billy Graham Community Life Commons Grand Opening |publisher=University of Northwestern – St. Paul website (unwsp.edu) |access-date=January 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102194014/http://www.unwsp.edu/web/10141/1611 |archive-date=January 2, 2014 }}

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File:Billy Graham - L0055 860Fo30141612210024.jpg, Norway, 1955.]]

On August 13, 1943, Graham married Wheaton classmate Ruth Bell, whose parents were Presbyterian missionaries in China.Barry Hankins, American Evangelicals: A Contemporary History of a Mainstream Religious Movement, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, USA, 2009, p. 41 Her father, L. Nelson Bell, was a general surgeon.{{cite web |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-4151300 |title=Billy Graham: the world is his pulpit |work=Saturday Evening Post |author=Stoddard, Maynard Good |date=March 1, 1986 |access-date=January 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623110843/https://www.gale.com/databases/questia }} Ruth died on June 14, 2007, at age 87.{{cite web|url=https://ruthbellgrahammemorial.org/obituary/|title=Obituary – Ruth Bell Graham|website=ruthbellgrahammemorial.org|access-date=February 22, 2018}} The couple were married for almost 64 years.{{Cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/02/21/billy-graham-billy-and-ruth/359224002/|title=Billy Graham: Billy and Ruth|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|access-date=February 24, 2018}}

Graham and his wife had five children together.Terry Mattingly,

[https://www.knoxnews.com/story/entertainment/columnists/terry-mattingly/2018/03/10/billy-grahams-children-say-their-goodbyes/408787002/ Billy Graham's children say their goodbyes], knoxnews.com, USA, March 10, 2018 Virginia (Gigi) Leftwich Graham Tchividjian (b. 1945), an inspirational speaker and author; Anne Graham Lotz (b. 1948), leader of AnGeL ministries; Ruth Graham (b. 1950), founder and president of Ruth Graham & Friends and leader of conferences throughout the US and Canada; Franklin Graham (b. 1952), president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and president and CEO of international relief organization Samaritan's Purse; and Nelson Edman Graham (b. 1958), a pastor who runs East Gates Ministries International,{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228052237/http://www.eastgates.org/awordfrombg.html |archive-date=February 28, 2009 |url=http://www.eastgates.org/awordfrombg.html |title=East Gates International |publisher=Eastgates.org |access-date=May 12, 2011}} which distributes Christian literature in China.

At the time of his death at age 99 in 2018, Graham was survived by 5 children, 19 grandchildren (including Tullian Tchividjian and Will Graham), 41 great-grandchildren, and 6 great-great-grandchildren.{{cite news|title=World-Renowned TV Evangelist The Rev. Billy Graham Dead at 99|url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/02/21/billy-graham-dies/|access-date=March 3, 2018|publisher=CBS|date=February 21, 2018}}

In 1953, he became a member of the First Baptist Church Dallas, although he never lived in the state of Texas.Bobby Ross Jr., [https://religionnews.com/2018/02/21/billy-graham-never-lived-in-texas-but-belonged-to-a-dallas-church-for-54-years/ Billy Graham never lived in Texas but belonged to a Dallas church for 54 years], religionnews.com, USA, February 21, 2018 In 2008, he changed his membership to the First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, South Carolina, about a 1.5-hour drive from his home in Montreat, North Carolina.

File:Rev. Billy Graham Lying in Honor (40830035821).jpg on February 28, 2018.{{cite web |title=Lying in State or in Honor |url=https://www.aoc.gov/what-we-do/programs-ceremonies/lying-in-state-honor#:~:text=Billy%20Graham%20Jr.%20February%2028-March%201%2C%202018%20Following,Congress%2C%202nd%20Session%2C%20agreed%20to%20February%2026%2C%202018. |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=May 20, 2024}}]]

Graham died of natural causes on February 21, 2018, at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, at the age of 99.{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/the-rev-billy-graham-prominent-christian-evangelist-dead-at-99/|title=The Rev. Billy Graham, prominent Christian evangelist, dead at 99|date=February 21, 2018|publisher=Fox News Channel|access-date=March 2, 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/ea6f9efdc7544a6dab337690c5849bfc|title=Evangelist Billy Graham dies at age 99; reached millions|work=Associated Press|access-date=February 21, 2018}}

{{external media| float = right|width=230px| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?441849-1/billy-graham-lies-honor-us-capitol Capitol Visitation for Billy Graham, February 28, 2018], C-SPAN| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?441940-1/reverend-billy-graham-funeral-service Funeral Service, Billy Graham Library, Charlotte, North Carolina, March 2, 2018], C-SPAN}}

On February 28 and March 1, 2018, Graham became the fourth private citizen in United States history to lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C.[https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/event-calendar/special-event-honoring-rev-billy-graham?2018-02-28 Special Event – Honoring Rev. Billy Graham] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301044542/https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/event-calendar/special-event-honoring-rev-billy-graham?2018-02-28 |date=March 1, 2018 }}, U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, February 28, 2018{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/politics/billy-graham-capitol-rotunda.html|title=Billy Graham to Lie in Honor at the U.S. Capitol|first=Emily|last=Cochrane|date=February 22, 2018|access-date=February 26, 2018|work=The New York Times}} He is the first religious leader to be so honored. At the ceremony, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called Graham "America's pastor". President Donald Trump said Graham was "an ambassador for Christ".{{cite web|url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-honored-capitol-memorial-service-trump-dad-love-america-pastor-219766/|title=Billy Graham Honored at US Capitol Memorial Service; Trump Recalls Dad's Love for 'America's Pastor'|work=The Christian Post|date=February 28, 2018|access-date=March 2, 2018}} In addition, televangelist Jim Bakker paid respect to Graham, stating he was the greatest preacher since Jesus. He also said that Graham visited him in prison.{{Cite web|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/special-reports/billy-graham-life/article202470224.html|title=Fallen evangelist Jim Bakker and wife pay their respects to Billy Graham in Charlotte|access-date=February 27, 2018}}{{Cite web|title=Fallen PTL pastor Jim Bakker recalls prison visit from Rev. Billy Graham|url=http://m.wbtv.com/story/37607004/fallen-ptl-pastor-jim-bakker-recalls-prison-visit-from-rev-billy-graham|publisher=WBTV|access-date=February 27, 2018|archive-date=March 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306023215/http://m.wbtv.com/story/37607004/fallen-ptl-pastor-jim-bakker-recalls-prison-visit-from-rev-billy-graham}}

A private funeral service was held on March 2, 2018. Graham was buried beside his wife at the foot of the cross-shaped brick walkway in the Prayer Garden, on the northeast side of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina.{{cite web|url=https://memorial.billygraham.org/memorial-events/|title=Memorial Events|publisher=Billy Graham Memorial|access-date=March 2, 2018}} Graham's pine plywood casket was handcrafted in 2006 by convicted murderers at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, and topped with a wooden cross that was nailed to it by the prisoners.{{cite web|url=http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article202566329.html|title=Billy Graham's coffin was built by a prison inmate named 'Grasshopper.' Here's why|work=Kansas City Star|access-date=March 2, 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article202297304.html|title=Here's what is special about Billy Graham's casket|access-date=March 2, 2018}}

He is honored with a commemoration on the liturgical calendar of the Anglican Church in North America on February 21.{{Cite web|title=Book of Common Prayer 2019|url=http://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BCP2019.pdf|page=694 |access-date=April 10, 2021}}

On May 16, 2024, a bronze statue of Graham was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol by House Speaker Mike Johnson.

• Man in the 5th Dimension (1964): short biographical film featuring Graham.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348674/ |title=Man in the 5th Dimension |publisher=IMDb }}
• Billy: The Early Years (2008): Played by actor Armie Hammer.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213672/ |title=Billy: The Early Years |publisher=IMDb }}
• The Crown (2017): "Vergangenheit", Season 2 Episode 6. Played by actor Paul Sparks.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6837072/ |title=Vergangenheit (The Crown: S2.E6) |publisher=IMDb }}
• Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018): Played by his grandson Will Graham.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7339792/ |title=Unbroken: Path to Redemption |publisher=IMDb }}

Graham's My Answer advice column appeared in newspapers for more than 60 years as of 2017.{{cite web|url=https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/advice/my-answer/|title=My Answer: From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham |website=Tribune Content Agency|access-date=May 4, 2017}}

Graham authored the following books,Graham, Billy. Just As I Am. New York: HarperCollins Worldwide, 1997. Copyright 1997 by the Billy Graham Evangelist Association. many of which have become bestsellers. In the 1970s, The Jesus Generation sold 200,000 copies in the first two weeks after its publication. Angels: God's Secret Agents had sales of a million copies within 90 days after release; How to Be Born Again was said to have made publishing history with its first printing of 800,000 copies.

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Calling Youth to Christ (1947)
• America's Hour of Decision (1951)
• I Saw Your Sons at War (1953)
• Peace with God (1953, 1984)
• Freedom from the Seven Deadly Sins (1955)
• The Secret of Happiness (1955, 1985)
• Billy Graham Talks to Teenagers (1958)
• My Answer (1960)
• Billy Graham Answers Your Questions (1960)
• World Aflame (1965)
• The Challenge (1969)
• The Jesus Generation (1971)
• Angels: God's Secret Agents (1975, 1985)
• How to Be Born Again (1977)
• The Holy Spirit (1978)
• Evangelist to the World (1979)
• Till Armageddon (1981)
• Approaching Hoofbeats (1983)
• A Biblical Standard for Evangelists (1984)
• Unto the Hills (1986)
• Facing Death and the Life After (1987)
• Answers to Life's Problems (1988)
• Hope for the Troubled Heart (1991)
• Storm Warning (1992)
• Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (1997, 2007)
• Hope for Each Day (2002)
• The Key to Personal Peace (2003)
• Living in God's Love: The New York Crusade (2005)
• The Journey: How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World (2006)
• Wisdom for Each Day (2008)
• Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well (2011)
• The Heaven Answer Book (2012)
• The Reason for My Hope: Salvation (2013)[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/06/billy-graham-book-the-reason-for-my-hope-salvation_n_4025835.html Banks, Adelle M. "Billy Graham book 'The Reason for My Hope: Salvation,' talks sin, selfishness, and 'trendy religion'" ] HuffPost. October 6, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
• Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity, and Our Life Beyond the Now (2015)[https://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-coming-out-with-new-book-on-heaven-eternity-and-our-life-beyond-144122/ Zaimov, Stoyan. "Billy Graham coming out with new book on 'Heaven, Eternity and Our Life Beyond'.] The Christian Post. August 31, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2018.

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{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/graham-william-franklin|work=Martin Luther King Jr. And The Global Freedom Struggle |title=Graham, William Franklin |date=May 8, 2017 |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=December 4, 2019 }}

}}

• {{Cite book |last=Aikman |first=David |author-link1=David Aikman |title=Billy Graham: His Life and Influence |location=Nashville |publisher=Thomas Nelson |year=2007 |asin=B008JM5FE2}} short biography
• {{cite book |first1=David |last1=Aikman |author-link1=David Aikman |chapter=Lyndon B. Johnson |year=2010 |title=Billy Graham: His Life and Influence |publisher=Thomas Nelson |isbn=978-1-4185-8432-0}} 2010 edition
• {{Cite book |editor-last=Long |editor-first=Michael G. |title=The Legacy of Billy Graham: Critical Reflections on America's Greatest Evangelist |year=2008 |asin=B002LE87N0}} scholarly essays
• {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Steven P. |title=Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South |year=2009 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-4151-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/billygrahamriseo0000mill }}
• {{cite book |first1=H. Edward |last1=Schier |year=2013 |chapter=Civil Rights Movement |chapter-url={{Google books|BZqYAAAAQBAJ|page=404|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Battle of the Three Wills: As It Relates to Good & Evil |publisher=Author House |isbn=978-1-4817-5876-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781481758765 }}

{{div col|colwidth=35em}}

• {{Cite book |last=Allison |first=Lon |title=Billy Graham: An Ordinary Man and His Extraordinary God |orig-date=2018 |year=2018 |publisher=Paraclete Press |isbn=978-1-64060-087-4}}
• {{cite web |last1=Billington |first1=Monroe |title=Oral history transcript, Billy Graham, interview 1 (I) |url=https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/oh-grahamb-19831012-s1-84-76 |publisher=LBJ Presidential Library |date=October 12, 1983}}
• {{Cite book |last=Bruns |first=Roger |title=Billy Graham: A Biography |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-3133-2718-6}}
• Finstuen, Andrew, et al., eds. Billy Graham: American Pilgrim (Oxford UP, 2017) 326 pp. essays by scholars
• {{cite news |last1=Goodstein |first1=Laurie |title=Billy Graham, 99, Dies; Pastor Filled Stadiums and Counseled Presidents |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/obituaries/billy-graham-dead.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301010117/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/obituaries/billy-graham-dead.html |archive-date=March 1, 2018}}
• Himes, A. (2011). [http://www.worldcat.org/title/ Sword of the Lord: the roots of fundamentalism in an American family] Seattle: Chiara Press.
• {{cite book|last=Hummel|first=Daniel G.|title=The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2023|location=Grand Rapids, MI|isbn=978-0-802-87922-6}}
• {{cite journal |doi=10.1093/jcs/39.2.273 |title=When Worlds Collide: Politics, Religion, and Media at the 1970 East Tennessee Billy Graham Crusade |journal=Journal of Church and State |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=273–95 |year=1997 |last1=King |first1=Randall E.}}
• {{Cite book|last=Laurie|first=Greg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbsyEAAAQBAJ&dq=billy+graham+preached+western+springs+baptist+church&pg=PA115|title=Billy Graham The Man I Knew|publisher=Salem Books|year=2021|isbn=978-1-68451-059-7|pages=115–117|language=English}}
• {{Cite book |last=Martin |first=William |title=A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story |publisher=Zondervan |year=2007 |location=Grand Rapids |isbn=978-0-310-24198-0}} scholarly biography, updated from 1991 edition published by William Morrow.
• {{Cite book |last=Martin |first=William |title=Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story |publisher=Zonderkidz |year=2013 |location=Grand Rapids |asin=B004HOV0CW}} Middle-school version.
• {{Cite book |last=Pollock |first=John |title=Billy Graham: Evangelist to the World |year=1979 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=0-06-066691-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/billygrahamevang00poll }}
• {{Cite book |last=Sherwood |first=Timothy H. |title=The Rhetorical Leadership of Fulton J. Sheen, Norman Vincent Peale, and Billy Graham in the Age of Extremes |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2013 |pages=1–158 |asin=B00E1CYKCC}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Strober |first1=Deborah Hart |first2=Gerald S. |last2=Strober |title=Billy Graham: A Narrative and Oral Biography |year=2006 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |isbn=978-0-78-79-8401-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/billygrahamorala00stro }}
• {{cite news |last1=Trott |first1=Bill |title=Billy Graham, preacher to millions, adviser to U.S. presidents, dies at 99 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-billy-graham/billy-graham-preacher-to-millions-adviser-to-u-s-presidents-dies-at-99-idUSKCN1G51O9/ |work=Reuters |date=February 21, 2018}}
• {{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0009640709990400 |title=Billy Graham's America |journal=Church History |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=489–511 |year=2009 |last1=Wacker |first1=Grant|s2cid=162380291 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Wacker |first=Grant |title=America's Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation |orig-date=2006 |year=2014 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-05218-5}}
• {{Cite book|last=Whalin|first=Terry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsaeBAAAQBAJ|title=Billy Graham A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist|publisher=Morgan James Publishing|year=2014|isbn=978-1-63047-231-3|pages=32–33|language=English}}

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{{commons and category}}

• {{URL|https://billygraham.org|Billy Graham Evangelistic Association}}
• [https://billygrahamarchivecenter.com/ Billy Graham Archive and Research Center]
• [https://wheatonbillygraham.com/ Billy Graham Center] at Wheaton College
• [https://www.wheaton.edu/about-wheaton/museum-and-collections/wheaton-archives-and-special-collections/research/billy-graham-resources/ Billy Graham Resources], Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections
• [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/billy-graham/ Billy Graham] on American Experience, PBS
• {{TED speaker}}
• {{C-SPAN|2496}}
• {{IMDb name|id=0333932|name=Billy Graham}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-aca}}

{{s-bef|before = William Bell Riley}}

{{s-ttl|title = President of Northwestern Bible College|years=1948–1952}}

{{s-aft|after = Richard Elvee}}

{{s-ach|aw}}

{{s-bef|before = Cicely Saunders}}

{{s-ttl|title = Templeton Prize|years = 1982}}

{{s-aft|after = Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn}}

{{s-hon}}

{{s-bef|before = Daniel Inouye}}

{{s-ttl|title = Persons who have lain in state or honor
in the United States Capitol rotunda|years=February 28 – March 1, 2018}}

{{s-aft|after = John McCain}}

{{s-end}}

{{Billy Graham}}

{{Evangelical Protestantism in the United States}}

{{Templeton Prize Laureates}}

{{Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century}}

{{Lain in State (USA)|state=collapsed}}

{{Subject bar |portal1= |portal2=Evangelical Christianity |portal3=Biography |portal4=United States |commons=yes |q=yes |d=yes |d-search=Q213550}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Billy}}

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